In 1863, Sir Arthur Cotton, who built the Dowlaiswaram anicut on the Godavari, proclaimed that the British Empire “had command of all the water of India”. It is the same metaphor of control over common property resources that the fishermen of the Godavari are protesting today, says R Uma Maheshwari in the final part of her series on the impact of the Polavaram Dam on the inland fishers of the Godavari

The non-tribal upper caste landowners of Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh are welcoming the Polavaram dam project since it offers them compensation, and the promise of ‘development’ and tourism. The tribal fishermen on the other hand, find that the tourist launches plying the river by the score are destroying what little remains of their livelihood

Caught in the interstices of caste, class and other qualifiers for compensation for the displaced, the inland fishworkers of the East Godavari fear they will be displaced by the Polavaram Dam and not compensated in any way. Where will they go?

Why is there no mention of fisher communities in the relief & rehabilitation statistics of the Polavaram Dam? If tribal communities can seek land for land, and forest for forest, can the displaced fisherfolk of the Godavari seek a river for a river? Part 2 in our series on the fisherfolk being displaced by the Polavaram Dam

The Andhra Pradesh government has a grand vision for industrial development, and the Polavaram Dam across the Godavari is essential to it. But the dam will submerge 276 villages, displacing farmers and fisherfolk. This FES-Infochange series looks specifically at the fisherfolk in the submergence zone, who are not even counted amongst the project-affected